Posts for: September, 2015

For many people, their feet stay hidden away most of the time in shoes and socks and people rarely pay attention to subtle changes occurring in their feet. Some common changes that are often ignored could be an early indicator of more serious problems affecting your heart or circulation. Hairless toes are often a sign that not enough blood is being pumped to your feet. Grass requires an adequate water supply to grow and like grass if the feet are not receiving enough blood, hair will not grow either. Furthermore, if the feet are not receiving enough blood, the skin will appear discolored and thin and the nails will get thick and yellow. Together, these are common indicators of circulation problems known as peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

PAD is a circulatory problem where the arteries in the extremities become narrowed which greatly reduces blood flow through them. PAD is commonly caused by atherosclerosis which is where plaques build up within your blood vessels and limits blood flow through them. If you think of the blood vessels as tubes with liquid flowing through them you can then imagine how if there was a buildup of junk within the inside of those tubes then that would result in significant impairments in blood flowing through them. PAD is very common among smokers, people who are obese, have diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or a family history of PAD are also at a greater risk of developing PAD. Besides the above mentioned changes occurring in the feet people with PAD commonly develop leg pain when walking that goes away with rest, cold extremities, and a lack of pulses in the extremities as well. People with PAD have a much higher risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke so treatment is very important.

Lifestyle changes are the first thing that needs to be done in order to treat PAD. People who smoke need to quit and also people need to adopt a healthy diet and take up some form of exercise. Other than lifestyle changes your doctor may put you on medications to control blood pressure and cholesterol and in severe cases perform surgery to either open up the blood vessels or bypass the blockage. PAD is a very serious problem that needs to be caught early and by paying attention to changes in your feet you can catch the problem early enough to possibly treat it with just some simple lifestyle changes. If you think your feet are showing signs and symptoms of PAD or you would like more information about PAD please make an appointment with one of our podiatrists at Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care located in Edison and Monroe, NJ.

For many, Corns and Calluses are an unsightly condition that most people want to keep hidden so others can’t see them. Many who develop corns and calluses will try to keep the problem hidden in their shoes and try home remedies to make them go away without realizing the potential complications that they can lead to. Calluses typically occur on areas of the skin that are placed under repeated pressure or experience repeated friction, corns are calluses that occur on the top of the toes. Corns and calluses are more than just a cosmetic issue; they change the quality of the skin damaging its elastic properties. If the skin can’t stretch, then it’s going to tear and if it tears it will quickly crack. This is especially problematic because cracks in the skin form a portal for bacteria to enter which will easily lead to an infection. Corns and calluses are especially problematic for diabetic patients because they can lead to the development of diabetic foot ulcers which are the one of the leading causes for foot amputations.

Corns and calluses can be easily prevented by wearing properly fitted shoes that minimize pressure and friction on your feet. You can also use padding to help protect areas of your feet that are susceptible to callus formation. If you do develop a callus, don’t try to remove it on your own, seek expert care from a podiatrist. They might try trimming away the dead skin composing the callus. Don’t try this on your own because if you cut too deep you could cause a serious injury to yourself or at the very least create a portal for bacteria entry. Your doctor may also try applying a keratolytic agent to the callus which is a weak acid that will eat away at the dead skin.

If you have an underlying foot deformity that is causing these problems, your doctor may make a mold of your foot in order to design a custom foot orthotic for you to offload the area and prevent the callus from returning. In very rare cases if the calluses are being caused by a boney deformity or a misalignment of the bones, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove the deformity or correct the misalignment. If you developed a corn or callus and would like to have it removed or would like more information about corns and calluses please make an appointment with one of our podiatrists at Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care located in Edison and Monroe, NJ.

The regular season of the PGA Tour comes to an end in July but the FedEx Cup Championship starts in August—and it starts in Edison, NJ home of your local podiatrists of Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care. Golf is a very leisurely sport but with it can come with major problems, especially related to the foot and ankle. The most common foot and ankle problems golfers complain of are heel pain, metatarsalgia (or ball-of-the-foot pain), and tendinitis. All of these common ailments can be treated by conservative measures and they are complaints that your local podiatrists are experts in treating.

There is one common treatment option, which unfortunately does not require the advice of a physician and that is—REST. Resting any injured part gives your body time to heal by reducing the amount of strain it is used to having on it. Along with rest is ice compression, and elevation…also known as, RICE. This is the go-to treatment option and it’s typically done before patients are even seen in the office. If these measures fail, more aggressive conservative treatments are warranted. Those treatments usually include, in particular order, bracing (for tendinitis), OTC orthotics, custom orthotics (both for heel and foot pain), physical therapy (for all complaints, but mainly tendinitis) and steroid injections (heel and foot pain). Steroid injections are not warranted for tendinitis due to their deleterious effects on tendon strength and healing. There are even more aggressive treatments that can be done but are not usually warranted because these treatments typically cure the pain. For completeness sake, other conservative treatments are cryosurgery and shockwave therapy, both of which are used mainly for heel pain.

The conditions mentioned above are not only experienced by golfers. These are conditions we see every day and are experts in treating them. If you or anyone you know has experienced any of these pains or discomforts, please do not hesitate to call our office and make an appointment. We also have an office in Monroe, NJ as well. Good luck to the golfers as they finish up the start of the FedEx Cup!